Russia conducted a huge ballistic and cruise missile attack on Ukrainian territories on Wednesday, targeting energy production and forcing authorities to shut down the power grid in certain parts despite severe winter weather, according to officials.
The Russian Defence Ministry announced that it has initiated a strike against “critically important gas and energy infrastructure facilities that ensure the functioning of Ukraine’s military industrial complex.”
The barrage occurred a day after the Russian Defence Ministry pledged to respond to what it described as an attack on Russian land with several Western-supplied missiles.
Kyiv has not verified the strike, but it did say on Tuesday that it attacked an oil refinery and a fuel storage depot, a chemical complex producing munitions, and two anti-aircraft missile systems in a missile and drone attack that went nearly 700 miles into Russia.
Long-range attacks have been a feature of the nearly three-year war, where on the front line snaking about 600 miles from northeast to southern Ukraine, the armies have been engaged in a war of attrition.
Russia has been advancing on the battlefield over the past year, though its progress has been slow and costly.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 43 missiles and 74 drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
A total of 30 missiles and 47 drones were shot down, and 27 drones failed to reach their target, it said.
The Russian missiles sought out targets from the Lviv region in western Ukraine near Poland to Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine bordering Russia.
The state energy company Ukrenergo reported emergency power outages in six regions. It often shuts down production during attacks as a precaution.
Russia has repeatedly tried to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, denying the country heat, electricity and running water. The attacks have also sought to disrupt Ukraine’s defence manufacturing industry.
Ukrainian authorities tried to rebuild their power generation after the attack, though the barrages have eroded production. Western partners have been helping Ukraine rebuild.
“It is the middle of the winter, and Russia’s goal remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
He urged Western partners to accelerate the delivery to Ukraine of promised air defence weapons, emphasizing that “promises have been made but not yet fully realized.”
Separately, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed on Wednesday to use his country’s presidency of the European Union to push forward with Ukraine’s membership quest.
Zelenskyy was in Poland on Wednesday after the two countries reached an agreement on the exhumation of Polish victims of World War II-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists, a longstanding source of tensions between them.
